Andy Conlin | The Truth About PLAs - Part 2

Author Archives: Andy Conlin

Federal Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad’s Open Competition Executive Order

September 20, 2011 – 10:32 am

Despite the attempts of lawmakers in California to override the will of local voters and their elected officials, not all of the news on wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreement (PLA) mandates from the states last week was bad. On Sept. 7, a federal District Court judge in Iowa dismissed a lawsuit filed by the [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC Iowa, Boston Harbor, Executive Order, Gov. Terry Branstad, Iowa, Lawsuit, Open Competition, PLAs, State Executive Order | Comments (0)

California Bills Designed to Turn Back the Will of the Voters Reach Gov. Jerry Brown’s Desk

September 19, 2011 – 4:14 pm

With two of the three bills designed to kill California voters’ rebellion against project labor agreements (PLAs) reaching Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk on Friday afternoon, this is a good opportunity to again urge Gov. Brown to veto this obvious and appalling handout to Big Labor. This is also a good opportunity to review the numerous [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 20 in 2010, 2010 Election, ABC California, Ballot Initiative, California, Chula Vista, Editorial, Greenmail, Kevin Dayton, local legislation, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, San Diego, SB 922, School Construction, State Legislation, The Politics of PLAs, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (1)

Nevada Court Declares Project Labor Agreement to be Favoritism: Strikes Down Mandate for Contractors to Sign with Unions to Build $17 Million Las Vegas Prison

August 17, 2011 – 10:40 am

On August 15, State of Nevada District Court Judge Jerry Wiese ruled that a project labor agreement (PLA) imposed on contractors by the elected Clark County Board of Commissioners for a $17 million prison project in Las Vegas violated the state’s competitive bidding laws. The Nevada Supreme Court has asked Judge Wiese to evaluate the [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Clark County, Kevin Dayton, Las Vegas, Lawsuit, Nevada, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, Prisons, Project Labor Agreements | Comments (0)

Illinois: Where Raising Taxes Isn’t Enough

August 14, 2011 – 9:49 am

Illinois taxpayers are having a rough go of it lately. While leaders in many states have reshaped their state governments to use public funds more efficiently and provide some relief to taxpayers, Illinois lawmakers have decided to go the other way on this issue. Illinois lawmakers went after people’s pocketbooks directly in early 2011, enacting [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Blagojevich, Executive Order, Gov. Quinn, Illinois, local legislation, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, State Executive Order, State Legislation, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (1)

Thoughts on the Wisconsin Recall Elections

August 11, 2011 – 12:08 pm

While this blog is focused on the negative impact of project labor agreement (PLA) mandates on taxpayer funded construction, we have kept a watchful eye on both the Wisconsin recall elections and the debate over S.B. 5 in Ohio in recent months and have some thoughts to share. Many observers project that more than $30 [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2010 Election, local legislation, PLA Ban, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, Recall Elections, The Politics of PLAs, Wisconsin | Comments (0)

Is Union-only the Best Way to “Rebuild the Dream?”

August 10, 2011 – 10:41 am

Michelle Malkin has a new piece exposing disgraced Obama administration green jobs czar Van Jones’ latest attempt to advocate for policies that tilt the scales for construction workers with union cards when competing for federal construction. Here are the highlights with our emphasis added: The problem, posits [Van] Jones, is that his fellow community organizer [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged BCTD, Executive Order 13502, Green For All, Green Jobs, Michelle Malkin, Op-Ed, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, The Politics of PLAs, Union-only PLAs harm local workers, Van Jones | Comments (1)

MI Open Competition Act Protecting Taxpayers and Merit Shop Construction Workers

August 9, 2011 – 1:49 pm

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed S.B.165 on July 19 and it is already having an impact for taxpayers and the vast majority of the construction workforce that chooses not to join a labor union. This week, Wayne State University cancelled an RFP for the renovation of a softball locker room that contained a requirement that [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC Michigan, Detroit, Michigan, Michigan State University, PLA Ban, State Legislation, University Construction | Comments (1)

BREAKING: MI Gov. Snyder Signs Bill to Ban Government-mandated PLAs

July 19, 2011 – 4:23 pm

Gov. Rick Snyder (R) has signed Michigan S.B. 165, which will prohibit the use of wasteful and discriminatory government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) on state, local, university and state assisted construction in Michigan. This will have serious implications in places like Ann Arbor, Detroit, Macomb County and Michigan State University, where past PLA requirements have [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC Michigan, Executive Order 13502, Michigan, Michigan State University, PLA Ban, PLAs, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, State Legislation | Comments (0)

WSJ Editorial: Government-mandated PLAs “Deserve to be Outlawed”

July 19, 2011 – 2:27 pm

The title says it all and we completely agree! The editorial board at The Wall Street Journal has again come out against wasteful and discriminatory government-mandated PLAs. Here are the highlights from the editorial (“Project Labor Revolt: The states ban union political bid-rigging. Obama demurs,” 7/19/11): One benefit of the squeeze on state and local [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2010 Election, ABC Iowa, ABC Michigan, Arizona, Arkansas, Ballot Initiative, California, Chula Vista, Editorial, Executive Order 13502, featured, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, Idaho, Iowa, Kevin Dayton, local legislation, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Open Competition, PLA Basics, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, State Executive Order, State Legislation, Tennessee, Utah, Wall Street Journal | Comments (3)

Maine Governor Signs Open Competition Bill into Law

July 13, 2011 – 3:47 pm

Maine is the land of good lobster, fine mustard and now open competition for taxpayer funded construction! Maine Governor Paul LePage (R) has signed L.D. 1257, which will keep government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) off state construction through October 2015. In Maine, more than 9 out of ten construction workers choose not to join a [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Maine, PLA Ban, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, State Legislation, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (2)